1. Field of the Invention
The preset invention relates to a robot programming device for carrying out a simulation of a robot, and for generating or correcting an operation program of the robot offline.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a system including a robot and peripheral equipment such as a machine tool, a cooperative operation is often carried out, in which a workpiece held by the robot is moved and positioned in the machine tool, and the workpiece is processed by the machine tool. Such a system can be controlled by a given motion program, whereas it is necessary to appropriately modify the motion program when the type of the robot, the machine tool or the workpiece is changed.
As a related art document, JP 3905075 B discloses an operation program generating device, in which an operation program is divided into a first program required to be modified depending on a workpiece and a second program which does not depend on the type of the workpiece, and the operation program corresponding to a new workpiece can be generated by modifying the first program only.
Further, JP 5058063 B discloses a development support device for a control system, configured to combine program units (or program blocks) for executing respective operations so as to generate a control program for the control system which carries out a plurality of operations.
On the other hand, it is a well-known technique that offline simulation is executed based on a generated motion program, in order to evaluate effectiveness, etc., of the motion program. For example, JP 2013-099815 A discloses a robot programming device configured to display three-dimensional models of a robot, a workpiece and peripheral equipment. When interference may occur between each teaching point of a motion program, the robot programming device can automatically correct the position of the teaching point so as to prevent the interference.
Further, JP 2014-144523 A discloses a motion program generating device, in which an execution switch is positioned and displayed with respect to each of a plurality of blocks or operation units of a motion program, and each block can be executed by operating the execution switch so as to check the motion.
When the peripheral equipment is shifted or the robot hand or the workpiece is moved when the robot is operated, an interference area between the robot and the peripheral equipment is changed. When it is necessary to correct or generate a teaching point in the offline robot program, it is also necessary to correct the teaching point by moving the robot after the peripheral equipment is shifted, and such correction is burdensome.
Also, when a system layout (such as the size and/or the position of the peripheral equipment) is changed, the interference area is changed. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out interference check with respect to each teaching point, and manually operate the robot so as to correct the teaching point or add another teaching point. Further, when the interference may occur on a path between the teaching points, it is necessary to manually operate the robot so as to correct the teaching point or add another teaching point.